ENGLISH LITURGIESour next ones will be on Saturday 10 December 2016, 9 - 10.30am and Wednesday 15 February 2017, 7 - 8.30pm

BIBLE STUDY CLASSESfor adults in English are held every Tuesday 7.15 – 8.30pm.

ENGLISH DIVINE LITURGY especially for children, on Saturday 10 December 9 – 10.30am, followed by refreshments in our hall. This Liturgy will be like all other Liturgies, but we would like to extend a special welcome to children.

END OF YEAR GREEK SCHOOL CONCERT after the Liturgy on Saturday 10 December, so from 11am.

SHORT COURSE IN ORTHODOX STUDIES This wil be held at our Church hall on Tuesday evenings, 7.30 - 9pm, from 7 February till 21 March 2017 inclusive. Various guest speakers will present well prepared talks. The exact program will be available soon.

HOW TO GET TO OUR NEW CHURCH, at the corner of Purchase and George St, Parramatta (enter through Purchase St)

By Car: From the M4 motorway get off at James Ruse Drive, and head towards Parramatta. At the traffic lights at Hassall St turn left. You then turn right onto Puchase St, which is at the 3rd traffic lights. After a few houses you then turn left into our Church property

Walking from Parramatta Station: (About a 15 minute walk) Walk past our old Church in Hassall St, once you get to the park keep going straight, so down the walkway that is the continuation of Hassall St, this will get you to Purchase St, turn left into Purchase St and you will be almost there.

By Bus:

· Go to Stand A2 at Parramatta bus interchange located between Parramatta Railway Station and Westfield's

· You are travelling to the “Hassall St after Purchase St, Parramatta” bus stop (Stop 2150416), if the driver does not know this stop, he may know it as “Hassall St before Alfred St, Parramatta”

· After approx. 2 minutes in the bus, just after you cross Harris St and see the park next to you, press the button to stop the bus

· After you leave the bus, walk back along Hassall St and then turn right onto Purchase St (it is a 3 minute walk from the bus stop to the Church)

OUR CHURCH'S FIGHT AGAINST SAME-SEX MARRIAGE LEGISLATION For some time now our Archdiocese has been actively and energetically campaigning against same-sex marriage. In an encyclical our Archbishop Stylianos wrote:

"....In relation to a law which the State proposes to vote with regard to Marriage between persons of the same gender, we write to you once again because the Federal Parliament is expected very soon to deal with the redefinition of the concept of marriage.

You might appreciate, then, should such an Act be legalized, what destructive consequences this will have on the institution of Marriage, but also on the institution of the Family more generally.

As Orthodox Christians, therefore, we are obliged, once again, to express in the strongest possible terms, our objection to the enactment of such a legislation, as this will assail the sacredness of the Sacrament of Marriage and the Family as has been taught to us through the Ages by our Holy Faith and by the Fathers of the Church."

If you would like to receive regular emails, informing you of what our Parish is doing, simply email us on church@stioannis.org and ask to be put on our email database. Those receiving such emails do not see who else gets them, in this way advertising companies will not get hold of our database.

St Ioannis is one of the parishes of theGreek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, headed by His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos, and under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.